Rome’s Fiumicino-Leonardo de Vinci has installed 8 Automated Border Control e-gates at arrivals and departure.
Passengers from the European Union with electronic passports can use the self-service ABC e-gates for immigration control.
There are currently four ABC e-gates available in arrivals and four in departures in Fiumicino Terminal 3, along with two monitoring stations for Italian border authorities.
The installation is a trial with Geneva based SITA. More than 3,000 passengers a day are clearing customs and immigration at the airport using the e-gates.
ABC e-gates check that the passenger is the passport holder and is authorized to enter the country. They use biometric technology to verify each passenger through a combination of facial recognition and fingerprints. This enables eligible passengers to use self-service facilities, reducing wait times. At the same time, it allows Customs and Immigration agents to focus their resources on potential high-risk passengers.
Dave Bakker, President, SITA Europe:
“SITA is at the forefront of pioneering solutions in self-service border technology. We’re using the latest biometrics to facilitate fast, accurate and secure passenger processing at the border so that airports and governments can reach the fine balance between providing a warm welcome and ensuring a high level of border security. ”
SITA collaborated with Aeroporti di Roma, the airport operator, and the Immigration Department of the Italian Ministry of the Interior, the government organization responsible for immigration and border control security, on the new ABC eGates.
Big increase in use of ABC eGates worldwide
ABC eGates are increasingly used for immigration formalities around the world. In the past week, three international airports in three different nations announced that they are or soon will be offering expedited screening with automated passport control (APC) kiosks.
- Denver International Airport now has 16 APC kiosks in use
- Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau in The Bahamas will have 20 APC kiosks in February 2015
- Queen Beatrix International Airport in Aruba will introduce APC kiosks in December 2014
More than 20 U.S. airports offer APC eGates and the United Kingdom currently has 109 ABC eGates in use at 18 UK airport terminals.
N.B. Image credit: sita.aero
Internet links
Rome Airport
SITA’s iBorders BorderAutomation ABC e-gates
